A meeting at the Kokiri Centre in South Dunedin - which faces an uncertain future after losing almost 50% of its funding - attracted about 50 concerned community members.
After the meeting last Friday, Arai te Uru Kokiri Centre trust interim chairman Haines Ellison said, ''We had awesome support from the community - there were many sectors from the community present ... all supportive of [the Kokiri Centre] remaining, and not wanting to see it close''.
''Obviously, there is the possibility of closure, but we want to say that we're in a holding pattern now.''
The centre has faced financial hardship after losing $295,166 in Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) funding this year, 46% of its annual budget.
Commission chief executive Tim Fowler said the lost funding had been earmarked for Youth Guarantee, a programme designed to help young adults transition from school to work, which the centre was ultimately unable to offer.
''The TEC understands that no enrolments were made for 2015 Youth Guarantee programme at Arai te Uru Kokiri, and in April the [centre] advised of its decision to withdraw from Youth Guarantee delivery. It has since repaid all 2015 funding to the TEC,'' Mr Fowler said.
One hundred and twenty-seven institutions received funding for Youth Guarantee programmes in 2014, a commission spokeswoman said.
Mr Ellison declined to comment on the reason behind the loss of TEC funding, but confirmed a Youth Guarantee programme was ''not being offered at the moment'' by the centre.
When the centre was running at full capacity, its operating budget was about $550,000, he said.
''So, as you can imagine, $290,000 is quite a significant part of our annual operating budget.''
In 2013, the centre lost about $200,000 in TEC funding when a programme funded by the Ministry of Social Development was terminated across the country.
''The [Ministry of Social Development] programme ending was the beginning of the end,'' Mr Ellison said.
Five staff members were directly affected by restructuring as a result of the centre's financial problems.
Some of the affected staff were redeployed while others were made redundant, and the centre was left with five staff members, Mr Ellison said.
At Friday's meeting, ''a lot of ideas were put forward, and trustees are now consolidating the ideas that were put forward''.
''We need to regroup with other trustees and work out what the funding will be.''
The overwhelming sentiment at the meeting was ''that the community wants Kokiri to stay open'', he said.
